Carson Considering Life After 'Tonight'

September 25, 1986

NEW YORK — Johnny Carson has a career decision to make. Will he continue to play Heeeeere's Johnny, or will he finally say goodbye to The Tonight Show after 25 years?

''I have a year to go and I still haven't decided yet,'' Carson said. ''Of course I waver, but I've been doing that for a long time. I was thinking about leaving after 15 years and then I thought that 20 years would be a good time to pack it in, too.''

Carson, 60, celebrates his 24th anniversary prime-time special on NBC tonight the program will be televised at 9:30 p.m. on WESH-Channel 2. Carson's contract expires in October 1987, a neat quarter century spent putting America to bed.

Factors that will influence his decision include the grind (made easier by 15 weeks of vacation and Mondays off), whether the audience still prefers him to the competition and whether the job remains a kick.

Most nights, he said, it does.

One more factor is the anxiety of not knowing what to do professionally if he's not doing on-air monologues, kidding with Ed McMahon and chatting with fellow celebrities.

''That's a concern of all performers,'' Carson said. ''I don't want to say I made a terrible mistake.''

McMahon, his sidekick for nearly 30 years, said concerns about abandoning his national stage could push Carson into one more Tonight Show contract.

To an outsider, the lure of leaving on top, after 25 years, would appear all too powerful. But the same internal forces that drove him to the top don't necessarily stop at 25 years.

Carson, who has been married and divorced three times and often joked about those break-ups on the show, said he put more energy into his TV career than his home life.

''Most men, if pushed on which was more important, marriage or career, would say career,'' Carson said. ''My honest gut feeling is that women would say the relationship matters more.''

One professional relationship that ended badly is with Joan Rivers, the former substitute host on Tonight who will have a rival late-night program on the Fox Broadcasting Co. starting Oct. 9. Carson expected Rivers to apprise him before the move was announced.

''I just think she handled it badly,'' Carson said. ''Nobody is against somebody making a decision about their career. But I question the manner in which it was handled. I also think she was less than smart and didn't show much style.''

Rivers said she tried to inform Carson the day before the announcement, but he wouldn't take her calls.

Rivers is among several new late-night talk show hosts this fall. Others are David Brenner in syndication and Dick Cavett and Jimmy Breslin in separate half-hour programs on ABC.

''I've been through this before,'' said Carson. ''You can't worry about the competition. You just do the best you can. Not every night is going to be good. The trick is what happens after six months.''

Carson was unable to recall his first joke or anything from his opening monologue for that very first Tonight Show. But he did remember feeling apprehensive - and he remembered his guests: Joan Crawford, Rudy Vallee, Tony Bennett and Mel Brooks.

Who would he want on his final show, whenever that is?

''I don't think I'll have any guests,'' he said. ''I think I'll just keep it in the family.''